How to Train Your Trainer
by PyrothTenka
Summary: When Charmander finally finds the Jirachi he's been searching for to grant his wish for the perfect trainer, this is not exactly what anyone had expected...
1. All Wishes Are Final

**A/N:** I am so so sorry. I started another story. Please forgive me. The adorable Charmander _would not leave me alone!_

This is what happens when I'm completely and utterly obsessed with Pokemon but can find like zero good Pokemon stories. Keep in mind, I hate powerful!character or harem stories. And that's like... 99% of all Pokemon stories.

My all time favorite Pokemon story on this site, besides this one, is 'Fishing for Trouble'. That I also wrote.

If you guys have any recommendations, I will gladly accept them. Until then I will have to be content with only the stories in my head. D: And try to share some of that with you. Please enjoy!

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 **Super Awesome Betas:** Infamous Storm, To Mockingbird, GwendolynStacy, Igornerd, Monster Cat Music Girl, Sage Thrasher, Duesal Bladesinger, Serrith and my RL friend, Jerenda, who does not have an ffnet account.

 **Chapter One: All Wishes are Final** \- No substitutions, exchanges or refunds

Today was the day.

After three years of searching, and another four months of waiting, Charmander was _finally_ going to get his wish. He was practically vibrating with excitement as he traversed the narrow crack in the mountainside towards his goal. It was a good thing he hadn't evolved in his four and a half years of life, or he'd never have been able to fit. Who knew being the runt of the litter would have proved to be so useful?

He exhaled and sucked in his round belly in order to wriggle through the last tight pinch, spilling out into the small cavern. The flame on his tail cast a warm orange glow over the ancient rock face and lit up the crystal embedded in it. Barely visible through the translucent surface, was a blur of blue and yellow.

Jirachi. The wish-granting star pokemon.

And tonight was the first night of the once-per-millennium meteor shower that would awaken it.

The orange reptilian pokemon lowered himself down to wait until nightfall. In just a few hours he would get his wish. The only thing he had ever wanted in his entire short life. The only thing any pokemon born at a breeding center ever wanted, really. To be adopted by a trainer and go on adventure. That was what he had been bred for.

Except Charmander had been born smaller than the rest and the breeders had been half convinced he wouldn't survive past infancy. He'd certainly never be able to battle competitively. Which was why Charmander had watched while all his siblings were shipped off to labs to be given to new trainers and start their journeys. He'd been forced to stay behind.

But that was okay. Charmander didn't want just _any_ trainer, no, he was going to have _the best_ trainer. The _perfect_ trainer. Together they were going to rule the pokemon world!

And ever since he'd heard of the legendary wish-granting pokemon, Jirachi, he'd known exactly how he was going to do it. Three and a half years later, he would finally have his perfect trainer.

Charmander didn't know how long he waited there, hours at least, but he stayed firm in his resolve as he stared down the crystal. Jirachi was going to wake up, and Charmander was going to get his wish. He'd even brought along something to barter with. This was going to work. It had to.

The first change happened when Charmander's tail flame was no longer the only light source in the cave. He hopped to his feet when the rock face in front of him began glowing a soft blue and he brushed a claw over its surface in anticipation. Any moment now-

All at once the blue light went out. For a split second panic threatened to overwhelm him before the light burst into existence again. It was behind him this time, and Charmander whirled around to stare at the living legend that was now occupying the center of the cavern.

Three golden points shaped like the top of a star framed its face as Jirachi took a moment to stretch. Each point held a strange blue tag-like object, and twin yellow tails floated lazily in the cave's non-existent breeze. Its tiny white body had a large horizontal indent that Charmander guessed held its third eye.

All at once, Jirachi's eyes snapped open and it let out a loud cheer. " _Haha! I have awakened! Finally I can continue the search! This shall be the cycle I find my- AAAH!"_

Jirachi's excited gestures had finally turned him (the voice was definitely male) enough to spot Charmander, interrupting his monologue with a startled yelp. An invisible force slammed into the small lizard, sending him staggering back into the crystal formation behind him. Charmander made a mental note to not startle powerful psychic pokemon in the future. That had hurt.

" _Oh! My apologies, little one, you startled me."_ There was a warm glow around him and Charmander was lifted to his feet, and his injuries healed all in an instant. He marvelled at newly unmarred scales, the great Jiraichi was proving to be just as powerful as he'd been told!

" _There you go, good as new. Now, I must leave! I have a female to find and only seven days to find her before I sleep again. Farewell, my young friend!"_

Charmander's eyes widened in alarm as he hurried to lunge forward and latch onto the other pokemon. " _W-wait! Please!"_

" _What is it?!"_ the star pokemon snapped in mild irritation as he shook out of the other pokemon's grasp. " _What part of 'only seven days' did you not understand? I'm in a bit of a hurry, in case you hadn't noticed!"_

" _I can help with that! At least, I'm pretty sure it will work. I don't think they had this medicine a thousand years ago..."_ Charmander trailed off as a bout of uncertainty hit him.

He was forced to shake it off however when he suddenly had a face full of legendary and the intense and undivided attention that came with it. " _Medicine?! What medicine?"_

The small lizard took a deep breath and told him. " _It's a medicine that wakes up sleeping pokemon and keeps them awake for a few hours. More if they keep taking it. I... can get you some. But... but you have to grant me my wish!"_ There. He'd said it. Now to pray the great legendary wou-

" _Agreed. Give me this medicine!"_

" _Wha- really? Just like that?"_ Charmander squeaked in incredulity. That... had been surprisingly easy. Jirachi hadn't even hesitated!

" _Yes. Really. If this medicine works as you say, even if it buys me only a single extra night, it will be worth it. Besides, these wishes are useless to me and you're the only one who's ever offered to bargain for one. Usually there's a whole lot more ambushing and capturing and demanding involved. Though, I do reserve the right to deny the wish in case of any world ending peril it might cause. No sense in being awake an extra day if there's no world to spend it in."_

Jirachi spun away from the fire pokemon so he could find a good patch of air to sit on. " _Now. The bargain has been struck. Where is this medicine and what is your wish? I will peer into the future to verify both the authenticity of this miracle elixir you have described as well as the ramifications of your wish. If both are acceptable then you've got yourself a wish, Kid."_

Charmander could hardly believe it! But he could waste no precious moments convincing himself, Jirachi clearly valued time more than anything else. He quickly scampered over to the crack in the wall he had come through, reaching through to grab the strap of a satchel he'd left just out of sight. He'd found it abandoned a few months back in a forest. A known nesting ground of Jigglypuff, though he'd been sure to visit it _after_ nesting season. He suspected a trainer had wandered too close, fallen asleep, and then simply forgotten their bag after waking up. Hopefully. Charmander tried not to think of other grisly alternatives that may have befallen a helpless human in a wilderness full of wild and dangerous pokemon.

This trainer had obviously known about the Jigglypuff in the area because inside was a bundle of a _dozen_ Awakening potions. That was what the small lizard dug out to present to his legendary companion. " _And my wish is to have the perfect trainer. One that will help me realize my full potential so that together we can be the best team ever!"_

" _Train-er?"_ Jirachi asked, confused. " _Like... that thing... where humans round up a herd of pokemon and tried to get them to do tricks? Why on Earth would you want that?! Is that still around a thousand years later?"_

" _No! Not 'tricks'! Human trainers train us to fight. To be strong and grow! I want to be a Charizard one day, to be big and scary and have no one pick on me ever again. Pokemon trained by a human are the strongest, and that's what I want to be. The strongest."_

Jirachi hummed thoughtfully. " _I still don't get it. Why not just wish to be the strongest then?"_

Charmander paused. He hadn't really considered that. Surprisingly though, the thought didn't appeal to him. " _I... I'm not sure. I think it's because it'll be lonely by myself? And because it feels a little like cheating that way. No, I still want my perfect trainer. It's all I've ever wanted. Is that okay?"_

" _Well, at least you know what you want. Probably better this way anyway since being 'the strongest' is far more likely to end in a world ending disaster,"_ the legendary mused before shifting his interest toward the bundled package of blue spray bottles. " _This is the medicine?"_

Charmander nodded in confirmation.

" _Alright, time to do some wish divination."_ Jirachi folded his legs under him and closed his eyes. A moment later the third eye on his stomach cracked open just a sliver. Through the lids, Charmander couldn't see much besides a faint silver glow. " _This only works with wishes, by the way, otherwise I'd have used it to— Oh. Well. That didn't take long."_ Jirachi's third eye snapped shut and he went back to floating lazily slightly above and in front of the other pokemon.

" _What? What didn't take long?"_ The fire lizard hopped impatiently from one foot to another. Surely seeing the future took longer than that...?

" _We're all set. The medicine will buy me_ two _whole extra days! Oh, and your wish is fine too. Next I give you one of these—"_ he paused to telekinetically float one of the paper tags down from his crown to within arm's reach of Charmander. "— _and you just speak your wish out loud and press a claw onto its surface."_

Charmander gingerly plucked the parchment from the psychic grasp and regarded it with near reverence. This was it! He was _finally_ going to get to meet his trainer! He was just about to follow through with the instructions before pausing to reconsider their location. " _Uhm. We should probably move outside. There's not enough room in here for a human."_

Jirachi shrugged. " _Yeah, you're probably right. Here, I'll take us somewhere safe. At least, it_ was _safe about a thousand years ago. Definitely space enough for a human, anyway."_

The fire lizard didn't even have enough time to agree before a soft white light infused them both and they were suddenly somewhere else. Harsh sunlight forced him to shield his eyes while they adjusted. When he opened them again, it was to the sight of lush forest.

" _Huh. This was a field of flowers last I checked. Eh, safe enough. Go ahead and speak your wish."_ Jirachi floated over to perch on a half-rotted log, leaving the other pokemon to stare at the wish tag uncertainly.

Charmander took a deep breath and nodded decisively. " _Okay. I wish for my perfect trainer; someone who can train me to be the best I can be and, together, we'll be able to reach greatness."_ He then placed the tag on the ground and pressed a palm to its surface.

The tag flickered briefly, and when he let go of it, an imprint of his claw was left behind. " _Okay, now what?"_ he asked, glancing over at the star pokemon.

Jirachi pushed off of the log to come over and scoop up the little slip of paper. " _Now you get ready for a light show."_

Without any further preamble, the legendary pressed the wish back into place on his crown. Instantly he was infused with a white glow and a bright pillar of light consumed him and his immediate surroundings. Charmander was forced to shield his eyes again and retreat a few steps.

It only lasted a moment, leaving dark spots in the fire lizard's vision before clearing to reveal a somewhat drained-looking Jirachi and a suspiciously human-shaped lump on the ground beneath him.

Charmander did not even remember crossing the distance to get to her.

Vaguely he remembered he'd always subconsciously thought of his perfect trainer as a boy-human, but discarded that idea as irrelevant. It didn't matter. His perfect trainer was _here_ and she was _perfect_. She was also unconscious, much to his disappointment, but that was fine too. It gave him a chance to process her presence.

She had long dark human-hair, and two long short-furred human-arms attached to five-fingered human-hands. She even had all the gear of a trainer already on her person! A belt with six pokeballs. A backpack filled with all sorts of human stuff, probably for training. Her human-clothes even looked like the kind a trainer would wear.

In short, she was everything Charmander had imagined. And more since she was _real_!

" _So, is this what you wanted?"_ Jirachi asked.

" _Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"_ The fire lizard hopped excitedly from foot to foot. " _Thank you!"_

" _Good. Then I'm heading out. I've got a whole lot of searching to cover and only nine days to do it. Ha! Thanks for the upgrade from seven, kid. This is going to be the cycle I find her, I just know it!"_

The star pokemon was already starting to float away when Charmander waved to him. " _Okay! Good luck, Jirachi! Thanks again!"_

The legendary was out of sight moments later and Charmander returned his attention to the human laying beside him. Hopefully she'd wake up soon. He couldn't wait to meet her! In the meantime, he settled himself down next to her to wait. Soon, very soon, Charmander would have everything he'd ever wanted.

He hadn't counted on how much screaming that would entail.

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 **AN:** And that's how it starts. Kidnapping a random human girl so Charmander can get his wish. Just remember, this all started because Charmander wished it to happen. This is all _Charmander's_ fault. Got it? Okay, don't forget it. No matter how adorable Charmander is.

Next up: Who is this trainer? What has Charmander gotten himself into?


	2. Waking Up

**Super Awesome Betas:** Infamous Storm, To Mockingbird, GwendolynStacy, Igornerd, Monster Cat Music Girl, Sage Thrasher, Duesal Bladesinger, Serrith and my RL friend, Jerenda, who does not have an ffnet account.

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 **Chapter Two: Waking Up**

Elmyra 'Mira' Jane Carter had always considered herself a level headed girl. She had always believed panicking was the absolute worst possible thing you could do in a crisis, and lived by it. If a fire alarm went off and smoke began filling a room, she was the one to begin barking out orders to help everyone evacuate safely.

One time on a trip to New York City she'd been mugged. It was her calm and collected brain that helped her get close to the knife-wielding man so she could mace him in the face. A swift kick between his legs and he was down while she called the police.

Mira did not do 'freaking out'.

Until the night she went to sleep in her own bed at home and woke up the next morning in a strange forest, wearing strange clothing and surrounded by strange trees she'd _never_ seen before in her life. Then she saw the giant flaming dinosaur curled up next to her and promptly lost any vestiges of composure she'd managed to salvage up until that point.

In hindsight, screaming at the top of her lungs while trying to scrabble away from the sleeping fire-monster had been a terrible plan. The creature jolted awake with a startled yelp, but Mira was long gone by then. She'd found the nearest tree and climbed it before she could even register the slivers and harsh scrapes covering her hands from the rough bark. She prayed to whatever deity that would listen that it couldn't climb up after her. Dinosaurs couldn't climb trees, right?

Not that that would help much if it decided to set the wood on fire with its flaming tail. What was one supposed to do when you were chased up a tree by a flaming lizard? Was there a correct procedure for this sort of thing?!

Slowly she could feel her wits begin to return to her and she began to take stock of her situation. Tree. Fire-dino. Strange new location with strange new clothes. Also a fire-dino. "What even _is_ that thing?!"

 _*Ping!*_ " **Charmander, the fire lizard pokemon. The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. The flame flickers when Charmander is enjoying itself. If the pokemon becomes enraged, the flame burns fiercely.** "

"What. Was. _That_." Mira craned her neck around to find the source of the strange robotic voice. Somewhere near her it seemed because it was quick to reply.

 _*Ping!*_ " **Welcome to your new Pokedex version 12.8.42. Would you like to run the setup wizard?** "

"Setup—? No! I just want to go home!" Mira shouted, an edge of histeria to her voice.

 _*Ping!*_ "' **Going Home' is set as the current 'End Game Reward'. In order to unlock that reward you must beat the game by becoming 'The Ultimate Pokemon Master'. Would you like to list the title requirements?** "

"No! I want you to tell me how to get away from the creepy fire-monster trying to climb up my tree!"

Said fire-monster stopped its attempts to reach her perch and settled down to stare up at her instead. It let out a mournful whine that sounded something like, "Chaaaar...?"

This time when the machine went _*Ping*_ , it almost sounded hesitant. Like it was questioning her sanity. " **To get your pokemon to obey, you must first give it an order. For example: 'Charmander, stay.' Or: 'Charmander, Down.'** "

"What." Mira had finally located the source of the mysterious voice, a bright red little pocket book that flipped open to reveal a screen and a confusing assortment of buttons. Even while examining it, she still glanced down every few minutes to confirm the little fiery nightmare lizard hadn't moved from its spot. It seemed content with sitting still for now, but Mira wouldn't be fooled into complacency. She saw those sharp teeth; that creature was clearly a carnivore!

 _*Ping*_ " **Error: Question lacks context. Would you like to run the setup wizard?** "

"No! Are you telling me that that... _thing_ will back down and stay put just because I _tell it to_?!"

 _*Ping*_ " **Most pokemon will obey their trainer's orders. Charmanders are known for their fierce loyalty and are more likely than most to accept even a novice trainer's commands.** "

"There's a small problem with that, you dumb machine. _I am not a trainer!_ "

 _*Ping*_ " **Elmyra Jane Carter. Occupation: Pokemon Trainer.** **Trainer ID: 382530866** **. Currently registered team: Charmander. Current Address: Unknown. Current contact number: Unknown. Registered Home City: Pallet Town.** "

"... You have got to be kidding me."

She stared numbly at the red device's screen. It showed an image of an ID of somesort that had her picture on it and all that information it'd just quoted displayed. How did this thing know her name?! Also, Pallet Town? She'd never even heard of such a place!

 _*Ping*_ " **Pokedexes are incapable of 'kidding'.** "

"Oh, shut up. That was rhetorical," she growled at it. Her gaze drifted uncertainly from the image on the screen, down to the hopeful and expectant looking (and boy was it weird to see _emotion_ on a reptilian face like that!) dinosaur, then to her tree.

Okay. According to the robot voice, she was something called a 'pokemon trainer' and the creature below was a 'pokemon'. Specifically a 'charmander' or whatever. Theoretically she was supposed to be able to give it orders. In spite of the world not really working like that and that trained animals were supposed to have, you know, actual _training_ before they could obey their trainers. Mira would have remembered training a big fiery lizard, so she wasn't confident of her chances.

Still, she _was_ stuck in a tree, currently, and said fiery lizard showed no signs of losing interest in her anytime soon. The idea did have some merit.

"Okay," she called down and grimaced when the creature visibly perked at her voice, even going so far as to tilt its head at her consideringly. A distinct sign of listening if she'd ever seen one. "... I'm going to come down now, and you are going to keep your distance, okay? Okay."

Then she remembered what the pokedex said and added for good measure, "Charmander, down! Stay!"

She watched in utter disbelief as the giant flaming monster lizard nodded— _nodded!_ — and lowered itself to the ground as far as it could. It practically prostrated itself before glancing up at her imploringly.

"Uhm. Good... boy? Girl? Heck if I know. Good Charmander, I guess?" This was officially the weirdest thing Mira had ever done. It only topped itself when the dinosaur's tail began thumping the ground cheerfully at the praise.

Slowly, she began her descent, wincing as her scraped up hands came in contact with rough tree bark again. She made sure to glance over her shoulder at the creature periodically just to be sure it stayed where it was. It did, disturbingly enough, even though she could tell it was practically vibrating with excitement by the time she reached the ground.

She nearly scurried back up the tree again when it lifted its head to try and look at her. It slammed its head back down as soon as it noticed, though, and she was left with the sinking suspicion that this little fire monster was far more intelligent than any other animal she knew of.

Mira considered ordering it to stay and then escaping as fast as she could in a random direction, but quickly discarded that plan. If it was going to follow her, and her gut instinct told her it _definitely would_ , she wanted it where she could see it. Looked like she was stuck with a new scaley orange companion for the foreseeable future. Hopefully it continued in its behavior of not eating her, that would make things go infinitely smoother.

Now that the immediate danger had passed (supposedly), Mira could begin forming something of an actual plan on how to get home. The pokedex had said something about an 'End Game' goal, but that was a whole can of worms she wasn't ready to open yet. Mostly she would settle for getting out of these woods for now. She could tackle everything else later.

Immediate needs first. Food, water, shelter and, if possible, civilization. With any luck, this strange backpack on her back, that she had never seen before in her life, possibly solved the first two of those problems. It was certainly heavy enough to give it a try.

She took a seat at the base of her tree, pulling the bag off and setting it between her legs. She was about to open it when the heavy gaze of soulful emerald green eyes distracted her. She couldn't stop herself from looking up to meet them.

... Maybe that laying down position she'd left the small dinosaur in _did_ look a _little_ uncomfortable. And it _had_ obeyed every order she'd given it perfectly. She was also not aware reptilian faces could look sad, but she would swear before a jury that that was exactly what its face looked like.

"Chaaaar...?"

She heaved a huge sigh. "Alright. _Fine._ You can get up now. But... but you keep your distance, okay?"

The cheerful, "Charmander!" she got in response both warmed her heart and completely threw the logic center of her brain for a loop. What the heck kind of animal cry was 'charmander'?!

She was unable to process that thought, however, as she suddenly had a face full of excited reptile. Apparently she and it did not agree on the definition of 'keeping your distance'. Much to its credit, it _did_ notice her complete freeze up and immediately stepped back, warbling its name again in a somewhat apologetic tone.

She took a few deep steadying breaths as she came down from that near heart attack before managing a reply. "Y-yeah, that's more what I meant. You keep that distance, okay?"

"Char!" it agreed and nodded again.

She doubted she was going to get over the human expressions and gestures anytime soon. At least it made communicating with it easier?

That taken care of, she went back to her previous task of cataloguing her resources. She methodically emptied the contents of the backpack, setting each object out in front of her. There was much less in there than she had been expecting; most of the weight had been the six pack of water bottles sitting at the bottom.

Aside from that, she had a box of what looked like protein bars, a coil of thin but strong looking rope, a small pocket of fabric that held a neatly folded waterproof poncho, a pair of heavy-duty gloves and two rectangular boxes.

She opened one box to find a small first aid kit and an assortment of odd little brightly colored spray bottles. They had labels that said stuff like 'Hyper Potion', 'Antidote' or 'Burn Heal'. They were also clearly labeled 'NOT FOR HUMAN USE', which promptly dumped it all in the 'useless' category of her brain.

Except for the small first aid kit which held bandaids and antiseptic cream that she did take a moment to apply to her hands. She then covered them in gloves just in case she needed to climb another tree anytime soon.

The second box opened up to reveal a set of eight small orbs nestled into molded foam. They looked similar to the little spherical objects she'd found on her belt, but they lacked the black and bright yellow tops that those had. These were instead a polished silver.

Utterly baffled as to their purpose, she set them aside to puzzle out later. For now she'd settle on one of the snack bars for a quick breakfast and a little water to wash it down.

She then poked through the side pockets. One of them was full of more of those little black and yellow balls from her belt, and the other held, much to her delight, a map and compass!

Not that that helped much at the moment since she had absolutely no idea where she was on that map. Still, if she found some high ground, she might be able to find some landmarks to help her out. And, more importantly, there were _towns_ labeled on that map. Sure proof of civilization.

She quickly repacked everything before getting to her feet. Charmander had not been idle while she had done her organizing. It had stalked out a small perimeter around her and the tree and seemed to growl at random shrubbery. At least, she hoped it was random. She really didn't want to find out what else could be hiding in these woods, one big fire lizard was quite enough for her taste.

As soon as she was on her feet, Charmander was at her side, and she paused to consider it. "Can... can you understand everything I say?" she asked, hesitantly.

She blinked in surprise when it nodded. That... that implied (practically _proved_ , actually) sapience. Maybe the nodding had just been a coincidence? She had to be sure... "Would you hop on one foot three times and spin around in a circle once, please?"

For a brief moment she was relieved when all it did was tilt its head at her seemingly confused. But then it nodded and promptly followed her instructions to the letter. Mira stumbled over a tree root and fell flat on her rear when she attempted to scramble away from the impossibly sapient lizard.

She was no longer on Earth, that was now painfully clear. Not unless she was on some mad scientist's experimental island where they were attempting to create intelligent creatures. The map combined with the way the pokedex had worded its answers made her think a different world entirely was far more likely.

Her chances of getting home on her own were looking slimmer and slimmer.

"Chaaar?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft, mournful cry and she looked up to see the orange lizard watching her anxiously. It was curled up on itself slightly, like it was trying to make itself look as non-threatening as possible. The slight shifting of weight from one foot to the other also made her think it was restraining itself from approaching her.

She bit her lip and regarded the creature uncertainly. She couldn't help but feel that her reaction had probably been rude, but really, how _was_ she supposed to act around a sapient dinosaur? Just like another person, maybe? It was a starting point at least, then she could figure it out from there.

"Hey, you! Uh, Charmander, right?"

The fiery lizard perked up at being addressed, then nodded enthusiastically. Presumably in answer to her question. It lifted a foot to take a step forward but then seemed to rethink its action and stayed where it was.

Mira grimaced. That wouldn't do; they couldn't have a proper conversation from a distance. She hesitated briefly before raising a hand to gesture the creature forward.

"C'mon, you don't need to stay away. I, uh, probably shouldn't have freaked out like that, sorry," Mira apologized awkwardly.

The orange lizard gave a happy chirp, and then wasted no time closing the distance between them... and then promptly climbing right up into her lap and wrapping his tiny scaly arms as far they would go around her torso.

Mira sat frozen stiffly in shock as the charmander hugged her. It got more weird when it let out a low purr-like trill as if telling her her apology was accepted.

... Was it normal for these things to be so affectionate? Mental note, Charmander liked physical contact.

Slowly, she forced herself to relax enough to breathe, and then reach down to nudge her new companion gently off of her and onto the ground beside her.

"Okay, okay, that's... nice...," Mira commented with an awkward cough. "But I need to be frank with you."

"Char?" Charmander queried, head tilted to the side in question.

"I... I'm not actually sure what I'm doing. I have no idea where I am, what you are or even remember how I got here. You may not want to follow me, you're probably better off without me honestly."

She'd barely finished speaking before the small dinosaur's eyes widened in surprise. It lunged forward to wrap itself insistently around her leg shaking its head in a vehemently negative response.

"Charmander, Char Char!"

Mira sighed inwardly. She really was stuck with it. Though, she _was_ coming around to the idea of having a native companion.

"Alright then. We're in this together, I guess," Mira mused.

Charmander nodded emphatically and Mira allowed a small smile.

"The robot voice was right, you really are loyal. Alright then. We should start with introductions. I'm Elmyra Jane Carter, Mira for short. I don't think I come from this world, but I haven't confirmed that yet, and I'm completely lost."

She glanced over at the big fire lizard. It had taken a seat and was taking care to give her its utmost attention. "You can't... speak my language, can you?" Mira questioned.

Charmander shook its head negative, but still tried anyway. "Charmander," it said, and Mira got the idea that it was saying its name. Then it turned to regard her questioningly, as if asking what to do next.

"Heh, so... I just call you Charmander? Is that right?"

Charmander nodded again happily.

"Alright then. Nice to meet you, Charmander. Hmm... how about I ask you some yes or no questions and you can just nod or shake you head, alright?"

"Char!" it chirped, nodding in agreement.

"Okay, first question. Are you a girl or a boy... er, are you a girl?" Mira asked, remembering at the last minute to turn it into a strictly yes or no question.

Charmander shook its — _his—_ head negative.

Mira nodded in comprehension. "Boy then. Okay. Question number two: Do you know where we are?"

He seemed to think it over for a moment before sheepishly shaking his head no. He paused, then held up a claw and made a motion that Mira could only interpret as a 'so-so' motion.

"So, you don't know _exactly_ where we are, but you might have a general idea?" she clarified.

That he nodded at.

"Alright, okay. I can work with this, I think." Mira stated, already forming a plan of action in her head. "If you can figure out about where we are, can you lead me to where more people are? I'm not exactly equipped to survive out in the wild. I'm lucky this pack has food and water in it."

Charmander paused again to think it over and gave a slow nod that got more definitive after a second or two.

"Great. That's... that's something at least," Mira commented, relieved. "That means we can start heading out."

She stood up and stretched her arms over her head, then set about stretching her legs. She was in a new place that had new creatures. Terrifying creatures that were on fire, apparently. She needed to stay limber and be prepared to run or, hopefully not, defend herself. Then she glanced down at her companion.

"Any idea where we should start?"

Cheerfully, Charmander hopped back to his feet and began examining the area around them. He sniffed deeply of the dirt and plant life, making a full circle around the human before stopping in front of her again and glancing up at the sky. Hesitantly, he glanced to their South (If the sun was the same indicator of direction here as it was in Mira's world) before shaking his head and point North-ish.

"Charmander, char mander char char," he said decisively.

"Alright. Sounds good, even though I have no idea what you just said. Better than me just picking a random direction, I suppose," Mira mused before beginning to walk.

Her new little friend wasted no time catching up to walk beside her.

Somehow, surprisingly, it felt... nice to have Charmander at her side. Yeah. Mira could make this work.

* * *

 **AN:** That's Mira, guys. I'm surprised one of you guessed OC-from-our-world. Kudos to you, ABZB13. Still, this is from an AU of our world where Pokemon (the entire brand) never existed. So this is all _completely_ new to her. XD

Which means this is essentially a first contact story and first contact stories are my absolute _favorite_. Hopefully you all will enjoy it just as much.

Thank you for your time and kind words!

-Py


	3. Bumbling About

**Super Awesome Betas:** Infamous Storm, To Mockingbird, GwendolynStacy, Igornerd, Monster Cat Music Girl, Sage Thrasher, Duesal Bladesinger, and Serrith.

Chapter title courtesy of To Mockingbird.

* * *

 **Chapter Three: Bumbling About**

It took less than an hour to figure out that her happy little fire lizard of hugs and cuddles wasn't _entirely_ made of cuteness and cheer. Which, she supposed belatedly, was a good thing since their current situation called for a significantly tougher approach. That being said, Mira was still very proud of herself for not completely freaking out when a humongous bee nearly half her size jumped out of the bushes at them.

And then again when her little companion leapt forward, mouth open with a roar, and _shot a jet of flame out of its mouth to practically incinerate the offending insect_.

Nope. Nope. Mira was done freaking out. She may have frozen just a little, but she didn't go running when the fiery monster turned to hug her leg happily. It chirped questioningly in a 'did-you-see-what-I-did?' manner up at her. Behind him, the now-flaming bug was zooming off as fast as it could in the opposite direction. Honestly, Mira was surprised it could still fly.

She forced a smile on her face and pat its head in praise. He did a _good_ thing, she had to tell herself. As horrific as the whole scene had been, she was glad she hadn't had to take on that huge bee on her own. It'd had _three_ giant stingers. Three. What even _was_ this place?!

She took a moment to steady her breathing. In. Out. In. Out. This was twice now an animal of unusual size had appeared in front of her with some unbelievable aspect like fire on its tail, or an extra set of stingers on its front legs. She was sensing a pattern here.

After regaining a semblance of composure, she turned to Charmander. "Are... all of the creatures here big like that?"

The little lizard blinked up at her before nodding hesitantly, then making another so-so motion.

Huh. She wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean. Mostly yes? Better off just... rolling with it, she supposed.

"Okay. That's... something. Er, are you alright? That thing didn't didn't hurt you or anything?"

"Charmander!" he answered cheerfully, holding his arms out and turning around for inspection. That probably meant he was fine, the bee hadn't come that close to him at all.

"Good. That's good." Mira shook her head and turned back to their northward heading. "Let's keep moving. You let me know if you sense anymore of those, okay? Or if you think you've figured out where we are."

"Char char!"

With that, they set off again. Mira was far more suspicious of whatever the local flora was hiding and couldn't help but nervously scan their surroundings for more of those giant bees.

Night fell, and they'd come across two other new creatures and one more of those bees before it grew too dark and Mira decided they were probably good to stop for the night. Well, mostly. She didn't really have any proper camping supplies, but she figured Charmander wouldn't have any trouble lighting a fire if they gathered the wood.

She spent that night sleeping under a tree and, unsurprisingly, an orange fiery lizard curled up happily against her to provide warmth. Thankfully, it didn't rain, and she really hoped the weather held until she could get back to civilization and find a proper sleeping bag or tent.

It did rain the next day, and Mira was grateful for the emergency poncho that had been packed in her bag for her. Even if she eventually had to cave and share it with Charmander by carrying him in her arms underneath it.

He really hadn't liked the rain. Which probably made some sort of strange sense since he _was_ a fire dinosaur.

Secretly, Mira was grateful for the extra warmth. Though she was still trying to figure out how she hadn't managed to burn herself on the open flame at the tip of Charmander's tail.

It was about mid morning when Mira came across the first sign of civilization. A path.

Stepping onto that well worn dirt path was like regaining a portion of her sanity. Even if the current precipitation had turned it a little muddy. This world had given her a good solid pair of hiking boots that were surprisingly good at keeping water out, a little wetness wasn't going to dampen her new good mood.

The rain had stopped, less than an hour or so earlier, when a dark figure became visible on the path ahead of them. It was closing the distance between them quickly, and Mira scrambled hastily back when the giant black wolf came to an abrupt stop next to them.

It was only then that she noticed the dark haired teen riding on its back. His eyes lit up upon seeing her and he leaned down to stick a hand out to her.

"You have a charmander! That's perfect! Quick, get on. They need us to help make sure the beedrill swarm doesn't kick back up again now that the rain has stopped."

A lifetime of taking action during crisis had Mira's hand taking his without her even realizing it. His tone just triggered her reflexive do-something-now response. It was only as she was being swung up and behind him into the large canine that she came to her senses; nearly fumbling her landing and falling off.

"Wait, wha—"

"Nyx, let's go!"

She yelped in surprise as the beast beneath them surged forward and resumed running along the path at its previous break neck speed. It was fortunate Charmander was still tucked securely into her jacket, or he might have been left behind. It did mean that the poor little dinosaur was practically squished between the two humans. Mira was clinging pretty tightly to this strange guy's back.

There wasn't much chance for conversation, not with how fast they were going, but after a short while, the wolf veered off the road and into the foliage and slowed down some.

Mira was just trying to pick the first of her oh-so-many questions, when they came to a stop.

"Hey, Keith!" a voice called out, interrupting her before she could get a word out.

"Ranger Clark!" the boy—Keith?—returned, swinging a leg over to dismount from his wolf. "How are things looking?"

"Much better, now that you're here. Oh hey, is that a charmander? That'll help immensely!" A man stepped into view from the nearby foliage. "Brock's keeping them back for now, but his rock types aren't much for subduing them without eradicating the entire nest."

Just what was so special about Charmander? Mira wondered. Besides the fact that it was a flaming dinosaur that breathed fire, she amended. Her near-kidnapper turned around to offer a hand to help her dismount and she took it fixing him with a reproachful look as she reached the ground.

He blinked and his eyebrows knit together in that look boys got when they suspected they'd done something wrong but really had no idea what it was. "Uhm. Miss? I, uh, never got your name?" he tried.

"No. You didn't," she replied dryly before turning away from him to study her companion instead. She peered down at the orange lizard in her arms. "You okay there, Charmander? That was a bit of a rough ride, huh?"

Charmander smiled up at her reassuringly and chirped a quick, "Char!"

"Okay, okay!" Keith spoke up with a tinge of exasperation. "I'm sorry, but we're really in a hurry here. Brock's pokemon can only keep them contained for so long! We need to subdue the beedrill so they can be relocated farther into the forest. Please tell me your charmander knows smokescreen?"

Mira stared at him blankly before quickly glancing down at the dinosaur in her arms in confusion. "Uhm..."

Charmander seemed to comprehend the question a lot faster than her because he was quick to nod enthusiastically. "Char! Char char!"

Well, it seemed like he knew what he was doing more than she did, so she set Charmander down on the ground to let him do his own thing. Except Keith was still talking to her about it. For some reason.

"That's a relief!" he sighed happily. "Can you get your charmander to mix its smoke with my oddish's sleep powder? Then we can have Fearow waft it over into the nest. Together, the coverage should be enough to knock out all of them."

Mira stared at him blankly before nodding slowly. "I suppose that should work?" It didn't sound like a _bad_ idea at least. You know, other than signing up to face a swarm of giant drill bees. Beedrill. Drill bee. Oh, that was just terrible. Who came up with these names?

At least Charmander's made sense, Charmander literally said his own name every time he talked. Which did bring up the strange thought of whether Charmander said 'Charmander' because it was his name, or if he was called 'Charmander' because that was what he said?

Either way, this world made like... zero sense.

Setting those thoughts aside, Mira focused on following instructions as Keith began organizing their giant bee removal efforts. Or actually, Charmander focused on following instructions and Mira followed along pretending like she knew what was going on.

At least she learned a lot just from watching. Like how humans and pokemon were supposed to interact. It wasn't that Keith _mistreated_ his pokemon, but he definitely didn't treat them like sapient creatures. Well, not entirely anyway. He did ask them questions and listen to their answers, but generally he just made all the decisions and ordered them around.

And they listened to him. It didn't seem to bother them at all, and she wondered if that was because this world had always lived with coexisting sapience and, therefore, didn't find it as special or unique as her world did?

She wasn't sure what field of study this sort of thing fell under, but it definitely wasn't _her_ field of study. She just had to live in this world, not understand every bit of it. She planned on returning home as soon as possible.

She also learned one other very important fact. What an 'onix' was.

There was some other guy there helping them and they'd been too busy for introductions, but Mira had heard Keith call the man 'Brock'. He had an onix, and was using it to keep any of the bees from straying from their nest.

An 'onix', as it turned out to be, was a _humongous_ snake made out of boulders. Like, that thing was larger than a house.

Mira took back everything she'd ever said about Charmander being big, she was now very glad the lizard was only the size of your average dog.

There was also another creature called a 'Geodude' (this name was even more ridiculous than Beedrill, in her opinion) and it was a floating rock. With arms. And no legs. It just... floated there.

She didn't know if that was more or less strange than the giant boulder snake. At least this one was only slightly bigger than her Charmander.

Eventually Keith had gotten them into position upwind of the hive and unhooked two of the red and white colored spheres from his belt (similar in design, but different colored than the ones she had on her own belt, she wondered what that meant).

"Okay," Keith spoke, "I'm going to let out Oddish and Fearow. Just make sure to have your Charmander use smokescreen right as Oddish uses sleep powder, then Fearow will use gust to blow it into the nest. Are you ready?"

She wasn't, but a quick questioning glance at Charmander had him responding with an eager "Char!" so she nodded her agreement.

She then watched in utter fascination as the boy tossed the two red and white spheres to the ground and they exploded with a strange red energy. She could only stare in disbelief as two creatures, one tiny and one large just... _appeared_ out of that energy.

The tiny one was a... an onion? A blue onion with little feet. And a face on it. It was equal parts adorable and creepy.

The large one was a significantly more normal looking bird. Only taller than she was and had a wickedly sharp looking beak. Two enormous talons scratched at the ground as the large avian took in its surroundings. It did not look friendly.

"Oddish!" the small onion called out and went over to rub its head (body?) affectionately against Keith's leg.

"Haha, good to see you too, Oddish," he replied, reaching down to run his fingers through its leaves. "You up to help subdue some beedrill?"

"Oddish!"

"Good!" He glanced over at Mira. "You guys good to go?"

Mira blinked out of her thoughts on storing sapient creatures in little balls like that and glanced down to Charmander.

"Char!" he barked, and Mira could already see smoke beginning to rise from the flame on his tail in anticipation.

"Okay, then," Keith reached over and grabbed Mira's arm to pull her back away from the pokemon. "We don't want to get caught in their attacks, trust me. Sleep powder hangovers are no joke."

Bemused, Mira allowed herself to be pulled away, noting how Charmander watched her go a little anxiously. He stayed where he was though, so he probably understood the logic behind it.

"Oddish, sleep powder! Fearow, gust!" At once the little onion seemed to straighten as it began waving its fronds back and forth through the air. Mira could barely make out _something_ building in the air around it before the bird began flapping its wings and blowing it out over the beedrill nest.

There was a pause before Keith turned to stare at her expectantly.

"Uh... oh, right. Charmander, smokescreen?" she tried. Keith seemed a little confused at the question in her tone, but the little dinosaur did not disappoint. A dark smog billowed out from him that quickly obscured him from her view even _with_ the bird-made breeze carrying it out and away from them.

Mira jumped slightly at the low whistle Keith suddenly let out. " _Nice_. That's a very well trained Charmander."

She shifted awkwardly at his misplaced praise. She'd literally done nothing except stand here. Whatever impressive display Charmander had done was all on him.

They stood there for about a minute before Keith frowned and motioned for them to move. "The wind's changing, we need to keep up with it for just a few more minutes to allow it to take full effect."

Mira followed Keith's example as he instructed his pokemon on where to go and where to direct their attacks to better cover the small copse of trees the beedrill had claimed for their nest. Keith would look her way whenever she was probably supposed to be directing her own pokemon and she attempted to give something of an order in spite of how awkward it felt.

It was a good thing Charmander was so intelligent all on his own to understand what was going on, because Mira was all but certain her 'orders' were useless. Not that Charmander didn't do his very best to fulfill each and every one of them.

The idea of giving someone orders still didn't sit well with her, but if she made the comparison that the trainer was a general and their pokemon were their soldiers, it made a bit more sense. This was an emergency and the pokemon were helping to abate it. At least, a swarm of giant bees near a populated area sounded like a fairly urgent emergency to her.

The fact that these bees might be sapient crossed her mind, but she couldn't dwell on the complications that brought up since cohabitation with other sapient creatures was new to her. Better to leave it to the locals to hash out, they'd been living with it much longer than she had.

Besides, they weren't _killing_ the (possibly sapient) bees. Just moving them. Yes, there were a lot of ways 'just moving them' could be bad as well, but Mira had to be content with that for now. She had her own problems to deal with.

Keith held up a hand and the pokemon, including Charmander, took that as a sign to stop. "Okay, that should be good. We can go let Ranger Clark know they can move the nest now. They should be getting their reinforcements from the other ranger outposts soon, they'll be able to find a new place for them."

Charmander came back to hug Mira's leg again with a happy yelp. She struggled not to choke on the lingering smell of smoke wafting off him. Was it possible to give a fire lizard a bath? Because he really needed one.

She reached down against the watery eyes and suffocating scent to pet Charmander on the head. She may not have known much about this 'training' business, but even _she_ knew the value of positive reinforcement. As well as the value of showing gratitude. "You did good, Charmander," she spoke, her tone tight from trying not to inhale.

"Here," Keith interrupted. Mira looked up to see him holding out one of those face masks things people use when in a hospital or quarantine zone. "I keep extra for Oddish's stun spore and sleep powder. It's unused. Er, not that I would hand it to you if it _were_ used, that'd be gross and highly unsanitary... and I'm going to stop talking now. Sorry. I'm awkward with people."

He finished up with a facepalm and Mira bit back a laugh.

"Thanks," she said instead, accepting it with a small reassuring smile.

Then turned her head to cough violently because she could no longer suppress the urge. She backed up away from Charmander and pulled out a water bottle to soak the mask with. It worked better when wet.

Mask in place and an idea of a plan formed in her mind, Mira stepped back up to Keith. She held out a hand to shake. "Hi, we didn't get properly introduced. I'm Mira."

She didn't bother giving her full name, it was a mouthful, and she hated it. She only did it for Charmander because that seemed like the sort of thing you'd do when meeting an alien species for the first time. Though, technically, Keith here was an alien too.

Actually... now that she was _really_ thinking about it...

 _She_ was the alien. Huh. Weird.

She forced her thoughts back on track when the boy in front of her took her hand and shook it.

"I'm Keith. Sorry about... ya know..."

"Practically abducting me?" Mira supplied helpfully.

"What? No, you grabbed my hand! You didn't protest or anything!" he argued, dropping their grip to run a hand through his hair in irritation.

"You didn't exactly give me a chance to," she rebuked lightly. "But aren't we supposed to be reporting back to some rangers? That sounded a little time sensitive."

He narrowed his eyes at her, but could do nothing to stop the subject change because Mira was right. "Yeah, we are."

He turned back to his Pokemon, unhooking one of those red and white spheres from his belt. Mira watched with fascination as he pressed the white circle in the middle (oh, it was a button?) and it expanded from the size of a golf ball to about the size of a baseball. He then pointed it at his pokemon, "Oddish, return!" and a red beam of light shot out of the ball. It connected with the blue onion, and the creature (plant?) dissolved into more red energy before being drawn back into the orb in Keith's hand.

So that was that. How did the whole expanding sphere work? Did the pokemon stay as energy once inside? Did it maybe work like a teleporter and there was just a holding facility somewhere else that held them until called again? Or was it more like a shrink ray and a little version of the pokemon lived on inside that tiny ball? Could it be used on a human? Or like, say, an inanimate object?

So many questions to ask but she wasn't sure which ones we're safe to speak without sounding like... well, an _alien_. If science fiction had taught her anything, it was that she definitely didn't want to out herself as an alien until she knew more information.

These thoughts continued to process as she followed Keith over to where his large bird pokemon sat.

"Fearow, go let the rangers know we're done here, alright?" The bird crowed its name loudly before taking off.

Then Keith turned back to her with a frown, "Alright, we should head back as well."

He set a brisk pace back toward where the rangers had set up a base camp and Mira followed after him. She looked back to make sure Charmander was keeping up with this faster pace; but if he had any trouble, he wasn't showing it.

"Do you always keep your charmander outside of its pokeball?" Keith asked, drawing her attention back to him.

Pokeball? Really? _That_ was what they called those little red and white balls? Or black and yellow in her case. She _still_ didn't know what the different colors meant. That seemed like something a not-alien would already know though.

She realized he'd asked her a question and she frowned. Huh. What was a good not-alien way to answer?

"... is that a bad thing?" she asked, hoping it didn't sound too out of place.

"Oh, no, not at all. Lots of trainers keep their pokemon out and about walking with them, though usually not fire-types as they tend to... set fires to things accidentally. Or on purpose. Not that I think your charmander would, he's clearly very well trained, I didn't mean to make it sound like you were a bad trainer! I was just... er, sorry. I'm rambling again. I was just curious."

"I don't mind rambling," Mira replied with a shrug. In fact, she liked that he rambled. It meant that he was dumping a whole lot more information than her original questions would normally get. Information that she sorely needed. Granted, not all of it was _useful_ information.

"I'd keep one of mine out but Nyx and Fearow are a bit too big and Oddish doesn't really like walking, or being carried, or cities... she's generally happier in her pokeball, really," Keith went on to explain. "Is Charmander your only pokemon?"

"Yeah."

He turned to look at her with a concerned frown. "You're not planning on challenging Brock with only a charmander, are you?"

"Uh... no?" she answered, baffled. What? Where had that question come from?! Why would she challenge the guy with the giant boulder snake?! That sounded like a terrible idea. For that matter, why would she challenge anyone at all?! Was that a thing that was common here? And shouldn't it be Charmander's decision to fight?

"Okay, good." He sighed in relief. "I know it should be obvious not to pit a fire-type solo against the rock gym leader, but I've seen some pretty dumb trainers in the past. Not that I'm calling you dumb! Just, you seem kinda new so, I mean... Gah! _Point is_ , if you're going to challenge Brock for the boulder badge, I recommend picking up a grass-type pokemon in the forest first. Or train your charmander up until he evolves into a charmeleon, but that would take forever."

Mira did not even know where to _begin_ analyzing all that information he'd just dumped on her. Gym leader? Boulder badge? _Charmander evolves into a what?!_

She must have heard him wrong. Evolution wasn't something you 'trained up to'! It was a natural process that took thousands or even millions of years and usually many generations of the creature in question. Why had he said it like it was a viable strategy? Like it was something that _wouldn't_ take many times longer than Mira's own lifetime?

Instead of voicing these questions, Mira nodded and replied, "I'll, uh, take that into consideration. Thank you."

They reached the clearing where they had left the rangers. Four other trainers joined them, including that boulder snake 'gym leader' guy, Brock. They had been part of the other teams keeping the beedrill in place.

Once everyone had gathered, Ranger Clark began speaking to all of them. "First off, I'd like to tell you all thank you, you did an amazing job out there. The Viridian Post rangers have arrived to the South and begun gathering up the nest for relocation. As an added bonus, you all may pick up one beedrill each on your way out."

Mira felt a soft elbow in her side as Keith leaned down to whisper. "You may want to take that up. Bugs are no good against Brock, but Ericka and Sabrina aren't that far and it'll help with those. Heck, Misty's starmie is part psychic and she's just in Cerulean, the next town over."

Mira nodded mechanically as she tried to imagine having a giant bee with drill/stinger arms as a companion. Hard pass. The fiery orange lizard at her side was enough.

She could also have sworn he'd said something about a pokemon being 'psychic' but she might have misheard him? Hopefully. It probably wasn't important anyway, so she tuned back in to Ranger Clark.

"... now I already know most of you from previous PSR posts, but I'll need those that are new to come here and give me your trainer ID's so I can deposit your pay into your account."

Wait. They were getting paid?

Oh, but they'd also said something about a trainer ID. Did she have one of those? Ah! The annoying red machine voice thing! It had an ID on it! Maybe that was the same thing?

She pulled the little pocket computer out of her jeans and flipped it open. Big mistake.

 _*Ping*_ " **Welcome to your new Pokedex version 12.8.42. Would you like to run the setup wizard?** "

Mira cringed as the very loud and distinct voice drew everyone's attention to her. She mouthed a quick 'Sorry!' at the irritated looks she was receiving and glared at the offending machine. It had responded to her voice before, so maybe it would do it again? She'd used the little voice activated assistant on her phone before, maybe it was like that?

She was about to try when Keith spoke up from beside her.

"You have a _pokedex_?!"

Mira froze up as she tried to figure out what exactly about this situation surprised him. Was having one of these _that_ unusual? "... Yes?" she tried, hesitantly.

"Man, your parents must have really helped you out. Most trainers can't afford to get a _pokedex_ until much later in their journey. They're crazy expensive. I mean, I saw the ultraballs on your belt, but a _pokedex_? Is your family rich or something?"

There was a heavy pause as Mira struggled to figure out how to react to that. Keith seemed to realize what he'd just said and slapped a palm to his face with a groan.

"I am so sorry. That was really rude of me, wasn't it? I'm, uh, not very good at talking... to people. Just forget I said that, alright? Though, for the record, I'm super jealous and wish I could afford one."

She gave him a wry look. "I'll forget it if you show me how to turn the volume down on this stupid thing."

"Oh, sure! You just tell it 'volume down' or 'volume level' then you say a number between zero and ten. Though really any voice command that sounds vaguely like a 'be quiet' works. They're not that picky."

"Great! So just... Pokedex, volume level three?"

 _*Ping* "_ **Volume level turned down to level three.** "

Mira sighed in relief, that had been a much quieter robot voice. "Awesome, thank you!"

* _Ping*_ " **You're welcome!** "

She shot the machine in her hands a glare. "I wasn't talking to _you!_ "

Keith laughed, but then nudged her with an elbow. "You should go get in line to give the Rangers your trainer ID. I'm pretty sure this is your first time, at least, I've never seen you on a PSR before."

"Right... uhm... just, dumb question, I'm not sure where to find my trainer ID?" she told him, trying to look innocent and sheepish.

It must have worked because he sighed and shook his head in exasperation. "Your pokedex should have your trainer information on it, just open it up and press the top button on the right."

Mira nodded and followed his instructions. It worked! Now to take that over to the Ranger guy, right? "Thanks, Keith!"

Getting her information to the ranger didn't take too long and when she came back, the other trainer had his giant black wolf out.

"Good, glad that got sorted out. It usually takes a day or two for the funds to deposit. I'm going to head back to Pewter City now. Later, Mira, it was nice meeting you!"

Mira jolted in surprise. He was leaving? No, no, no... "Wait, what?" she asked, rushing forward. "Don't just leave me out here, you're the one who hauled me all the way out to the middle of nowhere!"

Keith paused in the act of mounting his wolf. "Oh. Uh, sorry, usually Kanto folk don't like dark types. I'm surprised you rode Nyx here. Did you want a ride back to town?"

Mira had no idea what he meant by 'Kanto' or 'dark types', but if she could get a free ride straight to civilization, she was going to take it. Then maybe lock herself in a library for a week or something. Maybe she'd get lucky and they'd have some form of online tutorial for 'trainers'? The pokedex implied a fairly advanced grasp of computers. That thing _had_ to be hooked up to some sort of wireless network.

... Did she ever think to check and see if it had a GPS?

Whoops.

"Yes. A ride would be nice," she replied.

He shrugged and leaned down to give her a hand up. Which was good because this dog thing didn't have stirrups.

She leaned down to her little orange companion. "Do you want to ride between us like last time, or... someway else?"

"Char!"

She didn't understand what he said, but the lifted arms gesture in her direction was a pretty universal sign of asking to be picked up. So... he was okay with being squished between them, she guessed?

She tucked Charmander back under her jacket like before, freeing her hands so she could mount without too much difficulty.

Once situated, Keith gave his pokemon a pat. "Let's go, Nyx."

Nyx, the possibly sapient black dog beneath them, took off at a somewhat slower pace than the one she'd used earlier. It didn't stop Mira from having to cling to the boy's back to stay in place. She tried to keep from crushing the fire lizard between them, but she was starting to think he was much more durable than she thought.

She wasn't sure what she was going to find when they got to the city, but it had to be better than this monster infested wilderness. At the very least, she could start gathering information on this new world she'd found herself in.

Then she could worry about how to get home.

* * *

 **A/N:** There's chapter three. A monster of a chapter that's nearly twice as long as the previous one. I just couldn't find a better place to break it up so here it is. Enjoy. :)

-Py


End file.
